


Not So Different, He and I

by anony_mouse



Series: file://garbage_overwatch/ [4]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Genderbend, Genderswap, Genderswap!Hanzo, Hanzo makes some shitty choices, How Do I Tag, MCD is Genji btw, Pre-Fall of Overwatch, Protective!Hanzo, Sexism, Shimada Clan, Yakuza, aroace!Hanzo, but theyre still shitty choices, for good reasons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-01 13:11:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14521296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anony_mouse/pseuds/anony_mouse
Summary: There is a key difference between the world you know and this one: Hanzo Shimada was born a girl. This changes both more and less than one might think.(Note tags please.)





	Not So Different, He and I

**Author's Note:**

> See notes at the end for spoilers and possible triggers.

The terrifying matriarch of the Shimada family is firm that her son’s first born is to be named after her father. When the child is a girl, there is talk amongst the clan of naming the second after the man, but it hardly gains traction against the biting rage of her determination. She looks at her squalling granddaughter and a terrifying grin splits her face as she declares the girl worthy of the dragons in her bloodline- _this one_ , she says, _has a spine of steel to match their nature_. Even when she passes away a year later, none are fool enough to even suggest a change of the name.

.

Hanzo is a serious child, firm in her duties, and prone to dislike any who stand in her way. Her grudges are lasting and memorable and her mother finds Hanzo’s antics endlessly entertaining until the day she dies, body frail and mind prone to wander with illness.

After Genji’s birth, (four months before her mother’s death), Hanzo decides that he has become a part of her duty as well. It’s nothing short of adorable to watch her shoo unfortunate souls from her brother’s crib. It is slightly less adorable when she manages to obtain a sharp kunai to assist in her efforts. 

She is slated to be the head of the clan when their father passes, a role which she takes to with brutal efficiency. Yet for all her promise, it does not escape her notice it is Genji’s progress on which the elders’ eyes linger instead of her own. She does not believe her brother will turn on her for the clan though, and she will not begrudge him the attention he so clearly loves. 

.

She is 11 and Genji is 8 when she has her first bleed, and wise enough by then to know that hearing what she is not supposed to is necessary for someone in her position. So she is hovering silently in the hall to hear her father raise his voice for what she thinks might be the first time ever. She does not let her shock betray her though, and it is a good thing as she realizes they are yelling over _her suitor_. Crinkling her nose at the very thought, Hanzo silently vows never to speak with any of the elder’s frequently recommended “sparring partners” unless necessary.

.

She is 12 and Genji has just turned 10 when she makes her first kills. Her blade is is vicious and precise as she carves through the ribs of one would-be assassin and pierces his heart, twisting him around to place his body between hers and his partner’s. By the time her attendants arrive, she stands over the two bodies staring blankly at her sword hilt, replaying the sense-memory of carving through flesh with detached disgust. 

She doesn’t throw up.

.

Hanzo is 15 when the Twins begin to bloom across her skin. Her father is smug, and the petty distaste of a handful of elders is hardly her concern. Their interest at 11 year old Geni’s own developing dragon is.

((She listens))

.

Hanzo is 18 when it occurs to her that her lack of interest in love or sex may have something more to do with herself than a desire to spite the elders. Somehow, it doesn’t really matter so much. She smiles indulgently at her 16 year old brother’s own dramatics and remains happily engaged with her duties.

((She hears whispers))

.

Her father dies two days after Hanzo’s 21st birthday. She is unsurprised when the elders prove to be as tedious and trying as ever, but she does her best to humor them and keep the peace while she calms the rippling effects of her father’s death on his kingdom. She begs Genji to take some time from his adventures to help her regain control of their empire, and it is a slap to the face when he refuses. She is stung and hurt, unsure whether to be angry at his refusal or proud that he is distancing himself from the scheming of their family business, so she does nothing. 

Standing truly alone for the first time, Hanzo purposefully ignores the unease that settles like a yoke on her neck and resolves to do better.

((The whispers have changed))

.

Hanzo Shimada is 22 years old when she realizes that her smug control of the clan has cost her dearly. They tell her that it is her duty to reign in her brother (truth), that he owes the clan his duty (lie), that she must be the one to face him (lie), and that he is to be brought back for “reteaching”.

((They are no longer about her))

.

Hanzo and Genji have not spoken since his 20th birthday as he flies further from the grasps of their legacy and she spends more and more time putting out internal fires while fighting to appear calm and steady to even the most discerning of observers. She has no way to approach him that will not arouse suspicion, so she decides an old trick may be best.

Sneaking from the grounds is a nostalgic thrill, almost as exhilarating as when they were young. Finding her brother in the company of government agents is most decidedly not. She knows the elder’s hidden truths now. She knows why they want her brother dealt with. 

Spotting the clan spies watching him from the shadows feels like the second-to-last strike of a powerful kata- tense and seconds from disaster. 

She cannot afford to tip her hand yet either way, so she does nothing, waiting until her brother is alone once more to speak with him. She doesn’t let the knot of hurt in her breast strangle her and she shoves the sickly sweet rot of betrayal into a corner to be dealt with later. 

Unsurprisingly, Genji is displeased with her presence, and his suspicion and hostility burn her as truly as any flame. She carefully dances around his involvement with the agents and tries to warn him without tipping off their observers that she is trying to do so. Hanzo hears the elder’s cold voices in echoing in her ears as she tries to reach her brother, but he closes his own ears to her, accusing her of bending easily to their whims like the puppet they’ve always craved. Feeling the knot behind her collarbone choke up into a noose, she snaps like a wounded hound, letting loose her temper with cutting words and bitter taunts. 

She realizes, as his throwing star slices through the cartilage of her ear that the canyon between them has somehow grown too wide to bridge. Hanzo also realizes that, for all that they have received similar training, as she is, she could easily fulfill her orders. She thinks of “servants” subjected to the clan elders’ “reteachings”, stripped of identity and life, accomplishing their tasks and executing orders like wooden karakuri. The thought of Genji like that- dull-eyed and obedient makes her stomach twist violently.

Desperation wavers her blade and their fight stretches on far longer than it should. Hanzo makes one last attempt to reach her brother, but even as the words form on her lips, she can see his rejection and his blade come at her in a deadly swipe. Dodging with shaky limbs, Hanzo swears to spare her brother such a fate. 

Panicking, she swallows the lump in her throat and scrambles at the grip of her blade. With an unspoken prayer and plea for forgiveness, she looses her dragons, and forces herself to watch as they tear her brother apart, taking him far away from the elders’ grasping hands.

The elders are clearly displeased, but miraculously say nothing as Hanzo sweeps into her rooms to steep in her rage and guilt. 

.

With Genji out of harm's way forever and nothing left to lose, Hanzo decides to go on the offensive. Working quickly and quietly, she sets everything up to tear the elders from their cushy seats of power. 

The first two are killed in an “accident” while she prepares the rest so as not to arouse further suspicion. Then, nursing a broken heart, Hanzo goes after the rest, one by one killing or imprisoning each in their homes under some pretence or another. She takes more than a little pleasure in leaving them isolated from the clan and their power until she can decide how she wants to end their prolonged, miserable existences.

.

Hanzo plans to cull the old guard and rebuild the lot from the ground up in Genji’s name, but while she is quietly dealing out her revenge and instating new systems, Overwatch and Blackwatch begin their assault. The remaining elders rally in a coup, blaming Hanzo for the clan’s vulnerability.

It ends badly: her new empire in tattered ashes, their childhood home bullet-ridden, and her legs barely intact. She escapes by the skin of her teeth and watches her plans and revenge crumble down behind her. As angry as she is to have been robbed of her revenge, she is forced to admit defeat and finally abandons the duties that had cost her everything. Her political clout gone, she uses what little remains of her resources as well as her training and knowledge to secret out those people and families loyal to her father’s Shimada away from the Watches.

But when it’s all over and the dust settles over the last man’s tracks out of town, Hanzo is at a loss. Her two duties in life have been stripped from her. She has no empire, no home, no purpose, and no brother. 

Having seen the elder’s plans for Genji first hand, she is more certain than ever that she did the right thing, but the best of two evils is still an evil and the sin of her brother’s blood is heavy enough to crush her alive. She misses him. 

With nothing left to her name but some stolen funds and a bag of illegal weaponry, Hanzo begins drinking heavily and spends quite a bit of time living as a roaming lush, drifting from city to city trying to drown out her memories in sake and vodka. 

.

One day, stumbling home from a drunken fight, Hanzo is attacked. She kills her would-be assassin with an embarrassing amount of difficulty. Shaking off her hangover and blood loss, she does some digging and finds that her would-be assassin is carrying orders from the last remaining leeches of the Shimada Clan. Pulling on the banked fires of her rage, she beats herself back into something resembling fighting shape and learns what it means to be a _functioning_ alcoholic. 

Of course, semi-secure housing and meals requires money requires a job and no one seems to be in the market for a disgraced former Yakuza boss. Vaguely desperate, she turns to mercenary work, providing protection to those who pay well enough for it and the occasional assassination for those who pay better. She stays out of Japan and Hanamura as much as possible. Every so often, she idly considers going back to hunt the elders again, but somehow, she can never seem to bring herself to return.

.

Hanzo is a different woman than the panicked child who slew her brother in the street all those years ago.

Time and grief have honed her bitterness into a blade as fine as any blacksmith’s yield. Years of half-drunken mercenary work have taken their toll, littering her with deep scars and deeper aches. Isolation has dried up the words in her mouth until speaking is more a chore than anything else, her voice cracked and low with disuse. She is harder than she was, her words turned biting and her gaze withering and suspicious. 

She has abandoned her sword in favor of the less historied Stormbow, and cut her hair from the dark waterfall their father had loved into a practical chop just long enough to be pulled into a tight ponytail. Her clothes are no longer bright, nor silken as they had been through their childhoods. In their place are practical cottons, dark and unremarkable in every way. The only exception to the mundanity of her appearance is a blue bag strapped across her back.

He barely recognizes her from the harried girl with fever-bright eyes and the weight of the world on her shoulders.

**Author's Note:**

> CW: (spoilers, kinda) Hanzo 'kills' Genji and doesn't really take it so well. So basically just canon.
> 
> Karakuri (からくり人形) are traditional Japanese puppets or automata.
> 
> I had some ideas for Genji meeting Hanzo earlier than the 10 years it took them in canon and Hanzo basically just being really happy that her ghosts are taking shapes that aren't dead and screaming while Genji realizes that his sister is more than a little fucked up, but eh.
> 
> I also had a version of this that I started where Hanzo didn't escape and the elders chained her up in a basement to use as their whipping boy until Blackwatch found her.
> 
> Fun fact: if it had fit with what I wanted this to be, I wanted this to start with FOB's "say my name and his in the same breath // I dare you to say they taste the same".
> 
> As always, feel free to contact me if you want to pick this up in the comments or [here](https://anony-mouse-writer.tumblr.com)


End file.
